Tokyo in 2018. Manchester in 2023. Amsterdam in 2026. I’ve now experienced Yayoi Kusama’s work in three very different settings, and the press preview at the Stedelijk Museum felt particularly special.
As a make-up artist and beauty expert, I’m drawn to the way she uses colour and scale to manipulate perception. She understands something I experience daily when it comes to beauty: colour changes how we see, and context changes everything.
Kusama’s dots began with childhood hallucinations and became one of the defining motifs of her career. From paintings and sculptures to installations, fashion and her famous Infinity Mirror Rooms, she turned an intensely personal vision into something completely universal. Even her relationship with fashion has always been part of that vision. Kusama made her own clothes from an early age, wanting to become part of the art she created.
Seeing this exhibition now, shortly after Kusama’s death at 97, gives the work another resonance. But the feeling is not sadness. It’s colour, a lot of energy and an artist who never stopped developing her own language.
Yayoi Kusama knew exactly what she wanted the world to see. And she made sure we couldn’t look away. It’s an exhibition you’ll want to experience, maybe even more than once.
YAYOI KUSAMA exhibition is from 11 Sep 2026 — 17 Jan 2027 at Stedelijk Museum